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AFAIK they have about 10 races properly live and the rest will stick to the same extended highlights format of last year, so not too bad I guess.

Thanks. For the last couple of years, I've been trying desperately to get back into F1, but evidently Sky do not want that. Just let BBC have it, please. They have such a solid team, between presenting, production and commentary.

So it's an all German final in the Champions League (with Bayern heavy favourites).

I've proposed (well to Facebook at least) that it might be an amusing competition to read the football sections of newspapers and websites and have one person drinking when they see the phrase "end of an era" and the other when they see "balance of power has shifted" and see who caves first - but I fear it would only end in stomachs being pumped.

As it's a one of game, to resort to cliche myself, I don't think Dortmund can be written off, but Bayern are looking incredibly good (and have already shown in the league that they have the measure of Dortmund).

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Away from football I haven't caught much of the snooker as I would like to but have to say that Trump vs O'Sullivan should be the final (I don't particularly like either of them but they are both great to watch) as the line up for the other semi is rather uninspiring (Walden and Hawkins are just not the most exciting of players and I can see them both being overawed by the occasion in the final). It has been as impressive watching Ronnie play as it has been tedious to see him once again act like a pillock in press conferences.

Absolutely no idea. I've tried not to think about it in the hope that if I just kept assuming he'd be here 'til he dropped then it might happen. :D

The two names I've heard bandied about the most are Mourinho and Moyes. The former I can't see it happening (or necessarily working out if it did) and the latter is a good manager who I'd rather somebody else took the gamble on. Given they're both doing their badges and seem keen on managing I'd be surprised of one of Giggs or Neville doesn't get the job at some point but not yet.

I've seen some rumours of Jurgen Klopp and I really like what he's done at Dortmund so I wouldn't be unhappy if we got him.

Six year deal for Moyes. Good. I know it'll be claused up to the scuppers but that's still a decent commitment which is good for all concerned. A sign of intent for us, a bit of security for Moyes and gives him a bit more authority if some big-headed player should think he can give it the big'un because the manager's more expendable than he is.

A number of papers also seem to be seriously running several variants on United in discussions about Ronaldo but surely that's tosh?

Still not convinced it's the great appointment a lot of the people seem to think it is. Nothing against Moyes, he's a good manager. But it seems to lack ambition. His lack of European experience seems particularly glaring considering that's an area Fergie was always striving to improve.

All the talk coming from Man Utd seems to be about stability and continuity, but plenty of big teams manage success with semi-regular changes in manager. Everyone mocks Chelsea for the constant rotation, but they still win things. Ferguson's longevity is a huge exception. I've read a lot of fans saying they wouldn't want Mourinho because he'd only stick around for 4 or 5 years, but I don't see what's wrong with that. It'd be naive in the extreme to expect Moyes to just walk in and emulate Ferguson by staying there 20 years.

The other problem is, if Ferguson is staying on as a director they now have a living legend who casts a huge shadow over the whole club. I get the feeling that the minute things start to turn sour Moyes is going to get crushed by the weight of the club, with Fergie sat at the top. If I was a fan I think I'd have preferred someone like Mourinho, who might be caustic and probably wouldn't be long-term, but would have the mentality to make his own mark. Of course, I might be selling Moyes short in that regard, who knows. But all the talk at the moment makes it sound like Moyes is being employed to keep his hand on the rudder, not to actually captain the ship.

I'm not totally convinced but there are definite downsides to Mourinho other than him fucking after a few years.

1) He's a massive dickhead and would probably fall out with the Glazers in about a fortnight.
2) Look at the state of the Real Madrid squad at the moment, half of them don't like each other.
3) He left Chelsea in such a position where the players basically start running the team if they don't like the manager. I don't care whether it's still brought them some trophies, the tail should not wag the dog.
4) For all the good signings, Mourinho has signed some incredibly expensive dross as well. So's Ferguson but they knew he'd make it work somehow.

For all that, I do still see the appeal but I've read before that there was resistance to hiring him amongst the board. After him though, who else was there? I said above I like Klopp but he wouldn't have been a sure thing by any standards. Guardiola is going to Bayern regardless of whether or not you think his life was made a lot easier by Barcelona's cast of superstars. Who else was there with European experience of any real significance? Look at the list of Champions League winning managers who aren't getting on a bit. It's not a stellar lot.

As for Chelsea managerial rotisserie, it's worth bearing in mind that they've got enough money that if a manager is shit and leaves behind a less than desierable set of players they can just tell him to fuck off and buy some new ones. United seem to be managing their debt but get to the point where they're trying to pay off three managers at a time and that'd go down the pan.

As for Ferguson staying on I've long been of the same opinion you are that he ought to have chosen to move outside the club but obviously the club couldn't have told him to get lost. It helps in this case that he's obviously friends with Moyes and had a hand in his appointment, in as much as you'd hope that at least Ferguson himself will be actively pushing for people to give him some slack. Whoever came in was going to be on a hiding to nothing and as you say that would have been the selling point for Mourinho, that he's got so much ego he wouldn't have cared.

It's worth taking into account, of course, that there's every chance Mourinho just wasn't interested in managing United.

All fair points really. I'm not much of a fan of Mourinho myself, I mentioned him more as an example of the type of manager that has the CV and mentality to overcome Ferguson's legacy. Klopp would've been an excellent choice but I think his interest would've depended on how much his Dortmund team gets dismantled. I've not seen many people mention Carlo Ancelotti, given that he seems to want out of PSG and I don't think it would've been beyond Man Utd to tempt him away from Madrid. Ancelotti has pretty much everything you need at this point his career.

Anyway, Moyes has his chance now. Genuinely hope it goes well for him. Although if I'm honest I'd like to see this knock Utd off their stride for a bit, for the sake of a more competitive title race.

I think that's the thing with Klopp, even if he would vaguely have been interested (I've no reason to assume this is the case) I suspect he wasn't interested in talking about it before the final anwyay. And to be honest it sounds like United and Ferguson wanted Moyes pretty much from the start. Or Ferguson did anyway.

Even if it'd still been Ferguson at the helm I don't think United would have been anything like favourites for next year. City will come back stronger (rumour tonight seems to be that Pellegrini's about to get that job) and you'd think Chelsea will too.

I was going to say the same thing! So little of the match (was at my boss' birthday party) but managed to catch the goal and sit hoping they would hang on and so they did. They might well go down but at least they are doing so in style! =

You just can't beat a last minute goal in a big match. I love it. Whoever it is. Even when I watched The Premiership Years for last season, when it came to the Aguero winner at the end of the season I got goosebumps even though at the time I was obviously gutted. But Ben Watson essentially lived one of my childhood dreams, aside from the fact that it wasn't a 35 yard screamer or a mazy run past five players.

As for today, while it would have been even more fitting if it was after the 8th minute of 2 minutes of injury time it was nice that Ferguson's last match at Old Trafford was a win courtesy of a late winner.

It was nice to see Moyes got a good send off from Goodison as well. I thought he would but after he'd been wittering on in the week about how he'd understand if they didn't I wasn't sure if I'd missed something between him and the Everton fans.

Definitely Dortmund... I don't think Dortmund really has a 50-50 chance, but in a one off match you never know how it plays out.

It'll also be a busy motorsports weekend, with both the prestigious Monaco F1 Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Both are great names in the world of motorsports, for reasons I admit I don't always understand.

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18